"Hi Laura," Dawn said with an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She lifted her hand and saw that it was 1:15PM in her wristwatch. She noticed that as usual there was no one in the office apart from the only three employees that were generally present there. She looked back at the exit. She didn't know how much time her task would take, so she walked to Ambrose's computer straight. But while walking, Laura called, "Won't you eat? I made this special mayonnaise sandwich for you."

"I will grab it in a min!" Dawn replied with a quick smile and hurried to her destination.

​​

Laura shrugged. She continued eating while watching Netflix on her phone.

Dawn went to Ambrose's computer, took out the three pen drives and kept them on his table. She moved the mouse and the screen came alive. She inserted the first pen drive marked red into the slot and the screen flickered. Suddenly a whole matrix of codes appeared there. Her eyes became wide with what was happening. A fear ran through her mind as to what if someone found out what she was doing. She was hoping for the program to get over fast. The screen was continuously running white text against the black background. Dawn gulped. She stared at it non-stop. After about ten minutes the computer was hacked. The program prompted her to press keys on the keyboard. She did that and the blue screen of the user interface appeared. Dawn immediately plugged the thumb drive that was marked green. It took her another ten minutes to find the gaming company file, which she copied and pasted into her thumb drive. Once done, she removed it and kept it in her jacket's inner pocket. Next she plugged the pen drive that was marked blue and removed the one that had the virus. The computer was restored to its original screen. Dawn took out all the thumb drives, stashed them in her jacket's inner pocket and dashed out of that place. On her way, she grabbed the sandwich from Laura and said, "Thanks!" Her work was done in less than half an hour and she had to leave the premises. She almost sprinted to the elevator. At first she thought she would call Azura to pick her up, but decided to go out on her own, because that would have caught unwanted attention. She had to quickly exit the building.

---

Daryn was sitting in his office, looking at the email Neal had sent. It was information regarding Maya's father. He didn't realize how much time went by but when he was finished with it, he looked at the wall clock. "Shit!" he said and jumped out of his chair. It was past 1:30PM. Dawn must have gone to have her lunch. How could he miss it? He cursed himself and came out of the office only to find that she wasn't there. He took the elevator to the cafeteria and stepped in to see if she was there. Everyone was stunned to see the CEO himself walking in the cafeteria. They stopped eating. Some of the employees greeted him and asked if he would like to join them. Ignoring them Daryn turned his gaze around. She wasn't there. So he went to the lobby. Her scent was strong in the lobby. Had she left? He had goose bumps on his skin. What if Maya would kill her? His thought process became erratic and the mind went to the worst-case scenario. "Where are you, Dawn?" he muttered as if his life was hanging on that fine thread of knowing that she was alive. Even the assurance that she was alive was enough for him at that point of time. He took out his phone and called her, but she didn't pick up. Then he sent her the message:

[Please let me know that you are safe. That's all.]

There was no reply. He rushed out of the office premise and saw a bus leaving in front of him. He walked to the right to find her. She wouldn't have gone far.

---

Dawn exited the building quietly. She decided to go to Azura's office with the thumb drives and surprise him. If she had called him, he would have become extremely panicky. She walked up to the other side of the road to the bus-stand. Knowing that there was a threat to her life, taking a cab would have been risky. The bus came there in five minutes. She sat inside it.

It took an hour to reach Azura's office after changing buses at two stops. All the while the deed nagged her on the inside. Her wolf was unhappy and whined. It was difficult to control her emotions. Her face was red. How could she betray Daryn? What if he found out about it? Her image would crumble. Her breathing became ragged and she felt like vomiting out of nervousness. She closed her eyes in order to take a calming breath but her restless wolf gnawed her on the inside. "I am sorry Daryn," she said as she scraped her hands through her hair.

The bus reached the destination and Dawn alighted. The office was a five minutes walk from there. She walked up till the lonely alley that was besides the building. While Daryn's office was in one of the most prime locations of the city, Azura's was on the edge of the town after which the forest started. The alley that led to the office building had thick lush green trees on both the sides. Dawn clutched her purse tightly with her sweaty hands. Her mind went to Daryn. That was the last she saw him. The thought made her feel dizzy and tears appeared in her eyes. She wanted to turn and run back to him. With misty eyes, she was about to take a turn to enter when she saw Azura talking with someone whose back was turned towards her.

They were almost fifty yards away from her in front of the huge white concrete structure. Azura was smoking a cigarette and he looked angered. The man was wearing a flashy green shirt and blue jeans. His striking brown hair made her stop in her tracks. Instead of going there, she instantaneously hid behind the wall of the alley. That gait, those brown hair, she recognized it all. Her breath was caught in her throat. What was he doing there? She calmed herself and then peeped out slightly.

Jason turned slightly as he ran his hands through his brown hair. He was standing within two feet of Azura.

Dawn was shocked beyond words. She blinked her eyes rapidly to understand the situation. She pressed a fist to her mouth and leaned on the wall.

"Azura, are you sure she is going to get the information about the gaming company?" he asked with a shaky voice.

Azura took a long puff and blew out dense smoke. His jaw was clenched with fury. "Jason, she said she would, so I am sure of that."

"In that case, I will come in the evening to take it from you."

"Yes, and after that our deal is off! If I see you near her, I will personally kill you," said Azura as he turned his red eyes towards him.

Jason flinched. "Azura, I won't even come near you. You and Dawn will never see me. Who the hell wants to be with Dawn when my life is going on so great? Her Grandmother thinks she is dead and so be it," said Jason and let out a quick high-pitched laughter. "However, you better call us for the wedding."